planner

## Constructing a Circle Feature

Construct Circle dialog box

There are several ways to use Planner to construct a circle. The following table lists the various types of constructed circles, along with their necessary inputs. Some features may require no inputs while others may require three inputs or more. The term "Any" in the following table indicates that the construction can take any type of feature as input for construction. Planner allows the features to be selected in any order.

CONSTRUCT FEATURE TYPE | SYMBOL IN EDIT WINDOW | # OF INPUT FEATS | FEAT #1: | FEAT #2: | FEAT #3: | COMMENTS
Auto Circle | - | - | - | - | - | See "Auto Circle Construction".
Best Fit Circle | BF | At least 3 inputs are needed. | - | - | - | Constructs a best fit circle using the given inputs. See the Note below for recommended inputs.
Best Fit with Recompensate Circle | BFRE | At least 3 inputs are needed. (1 must be a point) | - | - | - | Constructs a best fit circle using the given inputs. See the Note below for recommended inputs.
Intersect Circle | INTOF | 2 | Circle, Sphere, Cone, or Cylinder | Plane | - | Constructs a circle at the intersection of a circular feature with a plane, cone, or cylinder.
Plane | Circle, Sphere, Cone, or Cylinder
Cone | Cone or Cylinder
Cylinder | Cone
Cast Circle | CAST | 1 | Any | - | - | Constructs a circle at the centroid of the input feature.
Project Circle | PROJ | 1 or 2 | Any | Plane | - | One input feature will project the circle to the workplane.
Reverse Circle | REV | 1 | Circle | - | - | Constructs a circle with a reversed vector.
Tangent 2 Lines | TANLINES | 2 | Line | Line | - | Constructs a circle tangent to the two lines at a given diameter.
Tangent 3 Lines | TANLINES | 3 | Line | Line | Line | Constructs a circle tangent to the three lines.
Tangent 3 Circles | TANCIRCLES | 3 | Circle | Circle | Circle | Constructs a circle tangent to the three circles.
Scan Segment Circle | SCAN_SEGMENT | 1 | Scan | - | - | Constructs an arc from a part of a Linear Open or Linear Close scan.
Scan Minimum | SCAN_MINIMUM | 1 | Scan Minimum | - | - | Constructs a 2D circle of a given radius at a minimum point along a linear scan.
Cone Circle - also known as Gage Diameter | CONE | 1 | Cone | - | - | Constructs a circle at the specified diameter or height of the cone.
Sphere Circle | SPHERE | 1 | Sphere | - | - | Constructs a circle at the specified diameter or height of the sphere.
Cylinder Circle | CYLINDER | 1 | Cylinder | - | - | Constructs a circle at the specified diameter or height of the cylinder.

For Best Fit (BF) or Best Fit Recompensate (BFRE) constructions, while you can use any feature type for your input features, BF and BFRE fit types are typically used with point features or point sets (a scan of points, a feature set with points, or an expression that resolves to an array of points).

If you select inappropriate feature types, Planner displays "Cannot construct [feature]. Combination of input features not accepted." on the status bar.

To construct a circle:

1. Open the Construct Circle dialog box (Insert | Feature | Constructed | Circle).

2. Input the desired features.

3. Select the In or Out option.

4. Select the method of construction. Available options include:

- Auto Circle

- Best Fit or Best Fit Recompensate Circle

- Intersect Circle

- Cast Circle

- Projected Circle

- Reverse Direction Circle

- Tangent 2 Lines

- Tangent 3 Lines

- Tangent 3 Circles

- Scan Segment

- Scan Minimum Point

- Circle from a Cone

- Circle from Sphere

- Circle from Cylinder

Auto is the default method of construction. See "Auto Circle Construction".

5. Some circle types have additional options or items that appear in the dialog box when selected. Select or use these options as needed.

6. Click the Create button.

When two or more features are involved, Planner automatically determines the necessary order of the input features. This improves the accuracy of the measurement process.

The following describe the available options for constructing a circle:

More:

In / Out Circle

2D / 3D Circle

Auto Circle Construction

Constructing a Best Fit or Best Fit Recompensate Circle

Constructing an Intersect Circle

Constructing a Cast Circle

Constructing a Projected Circle

Changing the Direction of a Circle

Constructing a Tangent Circle

Constructing an Arc from Part of a Scan

Constructing a Circle at a Scan's Minimum Point

Constructing a Circle from a Cone

Constructing a Circle from a Sphere

Constructing a Circle from a Cylinder